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Form Systems Shape Up Exercise Yard

When the architectural firm of Gaboury
and Associates designed the exercise yard
for the hospital in Selkirk, Manitoba, they
decided to use a repeating pattern of curves
and corners. This pattern creates a visually
interesting environment for the patients
and workers, but created some form design
challenges for the contractor.

The first concern was creating the curved
walls of various radiuses without “chording”
to meet the architectural finish specifications.
The curved sections featured horizontal rus‑
tications on the inside and outside, with ad‑
ditional relief details on the outside surfaces
of the wall.

Joining the curved sections at 90° angles was
another challenge that the contractor needed
addressed in the formwork plans. Vertical rus‑
tication strips were utilized at some of these
corners but not at others, and the contractor
was concerned that this would create difficul‑
ties with form reuse patterns.

Symons® by Dayton Superior submitted a
plan to use the Flex‑Form forming system on
the curved walls, and Steel‑Ply for the corner
details. Wood strips and squares, fastened
to the face of systems, provided the repeated
relief details. It was suggested that the con‑
trator utilize two sets of forms so that setting,
pouring and stripping operations could be
continuous and simplify the Flex‑Form system
radius adjustments.

Although the crew was initially unfamiliar with
the systems, Bockstael Construction reports
that the plan was easy to follow and that they
were impressed with how easy they were to
work with.